Nokia could give Linux a spin in high-end mobiles

To anyone even remotely familiar with Nokia's history, this tidbit won't come as a surprise at all. In fact, we've been hearing "Linux" and "Nokia" in the same sentence for years. At Nokia World in Barcelona -- the same place where the almighty N97 (pictured) was unveiled -- Ukko Lappalainen, vice president at Nokia's markets unit, informed Reuters that "in the longer perspective, Linux will become a serious alternative for our high-end phones." Potentially more interesting was his followup line: "I don't see anything in Android which would make it better than Linux maemo." Quite frankly, we'd be entirely more interested if this was some revolutionary epiphany, but it's basically just more of the same song and dance. Now, if an N98 pops out next month with a freakishly awesome and nimble mobile variant of Ubuntu, well -- that's a horse of a different color.

[Via LinuxDevices]

[The Police @ Dec 3rd 2008 3:34AM]

I hope this baby can run linux like the Nokia N810

[iEye @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:21AM]

The iPhone runs linux, and it is 2 years old, and to add to the bag of hurt this Nokia has not even been released yet!

Well at least now we know what the iPhone looks like with a QWERTY keyboard.

[jakem @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:48AM]

@iEye: I used to think that you were a typical fanboy but now I'm beginning to think that you might be an anti-Apple mole. Not even the most devoted fanboy would say the things you say.

[Saad Rabia @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:53AM]

iEye, I love you man, I laughed out loud again, for real and no pun intended. :)

[superfresh @ Dec 3rd 2008 8:18AM]

Sorry to reply to the first post, but is there any chance this thing ends up on Verizon? I know that it's a GSM phone, which leads one to believe that it'll only be on AT&T (not that I can imagine Apple would want the N97 too close to the iPhone) or T-Mobile. Is it easy to switch a phone out to suit a provider's network?

[superhobo @ Dec 3rd 2008 9:26AM]

Goodbye Symbian. ;_;

Looks like Nokia bought it to kill it.

[superhobo @ Dec 3rd 2008 9:29AM]

Or maybe create some sort of Symbian-Linux hybrid.

[thedesolate1 @ Dec 3rd 2008 9:29AM]

It would be a crime against humanity if this phone ends up in verizon. Raped and stripped of all its pride and sold to the masses with a sub par feature set and a degraded OS.

- Verizon Your World Crippled

This phone is meant to be unlocked in all of its glory so that you can harness the full power of S60 5th edition.

My question is... have they brought back the SIP stack?

[Mycroft @ Dec 3rd 2008 11:02AM]

Wow. If that is not a naked chalange to cram Android in this thing, I don't know what is.

[Troels C @ Dec 3rd 2008 11:51AM]

@iEye
No the iPhone runs Mac OS X, which is based on BSD.

[AlDeezy @ Dec 3rd 2008 3:48AM]

Sounds cool, but Ukko Lappalainen is the going on my list of WTF names. lol

[Danny @ Dec 3rd 2008 5:22AM]

You have a list of WTF names?

[AlDeezy @ Dec 3rd 2008 5:43AM]

no I just made that up, lol.........still you never know. ;-)

[Oli D @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:17AM]

I know a chick called Santa Kraus

That gets me everytime...

[Esat Dedezade @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:59AM]

How bout me?

[silverblackvoid @ Dec 3rd 2008 8:04AM]

ha ha ha...esat, you think aldeezy is a girl?

[Omen_20 @ Dec 3rd 2008 12:12PM]

Whos the girl in your icon AlDeezy?

[SouthEastBeast @ Dec 3rd 2008 12:25PM]

There was a kid in my HS named Joey Butram, but he said it was pronounced "Boot-rom" haha we still called him Joey Buttram!

[blue balls @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:33PM]

we had a student come in from japan last year and we had to call her up to the office...her name was (not sure if im spelling it correctly) bich dong long (pronounced correctly is sounded like bitch)------i swear to you i dont think i have ever seen so many people laughing that hard at one time before.

[avis @ Dec 3rd 2008 3:48AM]

Well, finally some hope for mobile Linux even when other mobiles like Motorola dropped linux..

[ravi @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:15AM]

Motorola only dropped its obsolete linux platform for firstly, LiMO then to Android.

Both are Linux!

[avis @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:29AM]

yep, but android is more of a Java phone with linux kernel. we don't have access to any C/C++ SDK or toolchain..

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 3rd 2008 11:18AM]

Doesn't mean it's not Linux...

[eggothewaffle @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:06AM]

The only thing is that current processors (at least the one in the N810) make running Maemo *painful.*

[Pdexter @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:31AM]

I wouldn't say it's painfully slow on the N810, but yeah it's slow enough to make you irritated some times.

Thought next tablet will have OMAP3, confirmed from Nokia in the Maemo summit this year and as someone from Nokia said tablets are working as testing ground for Nokia when N810 was released(more clear now when they will be releasing Maemo phones at some point) so i would say that the Maemo phone will have OMAP 3 too.

[Fusion Fuzo 05 - Mr Professional @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:15AM]

FUGLY, linux ooh dear that like prehistoric, The pain of using a phona and see in linux, people think off the children they want windows mobile.

[Patriks7 @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:19AM]

Well looks like your writing is nowhere close to professional.. had to read that a couple times to get anywhere close to understanding what you mean..

[Oli D @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:26AM]

In what way is Linux prehistoric?

When was windows last fully updated?
Because Ubuntu gets an overhaul every six months.

History lesson
Windows - first released 1985
Linux OS - first developed 1989 (effectively)

Mr Professional, you wern't a Chartered Surveyor where you?
If you were it would be more like Mr looking for a job, will clean toilets for cash.

[Saad Rabia @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:27AM]

People, before you reply to this lame person, I have one request:

Do not reply to his comments. Leave him wondering alone, low rank him (or high rank him), then go on with reading other people's comments.

Do not reply after reading this.

[Fusion Fuzo 05 - Mr Professional @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:36AM]

Well still linux looks prehistoric, and I am a fully qualified professional.

and no Saad Rabia your comments lame, your an embarrassment at commenting

[Troels C @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:55AM]

@Oli D:
Erh... are you comparing Window 1 to Windows Vista? There is absolutely no resemblance core vise. There has been several major core rewrites (yes from scratch) and different branches of Windows since the beginning. Look it up on Wikipedia.

I agree though that Linux isn't prehistoric, even though some of the grapical interfaces for Linux may appear so.

On topic:
Maybe this could give Nokias a much needed performance boost. My N95 isn't exactly performing smoothly.

[Félix @ Dec 3rd 2008 5:33AM]

fat ulgy hairy troll spotted.
http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/

[Oli D @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:00AM]

I was making a point...
Reflecting now it could have been better tuned but i think i got the message across.

Lets just end this issue with "Well Bill Gates stole the GUI from Apple remember?"

[OCEAN 'CLAK' 20th @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:20AM]

'i' remember

microsoft windows is an apple knock off in so many ways, thats why osx is heaven

[MM @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:30AM]

@ Fusion Fuzo 05 - Mr Professional
Where did you learn grammar, in Redmomd?

[Oli D @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:37AM]

OSX is heaven, i considered having it installed into my brain once, but it wouldn't accept my BIOS...

[Esat Dedezade @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:02AM]

I truly hope that iEye, Clak and Fusion are the same person with three seperate accounts. That way my faith in mankind can be restored slightly, knowing that the idiots are not multiplying...

Then again, I think they are all seperate people, as iEye sometimes does come out with good points believe it or not, on those rare ocassions he doesn't mention anything iphone related...

[Troels C @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:14AM]

@Oli D
"Well Bill Gates stole the GUI from Apple remember?"

No. Apple and Microsoft stole the idea from Xerox.

[Oli D @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:17AM]

Xerox... isn't that a paper company?

[Fusion Fuzo 05 - Mr Professional @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:24AM]

NEVER I would NEVER use apple product's over windows equivalents, In the software world xp and windows mobile are king. IPhone has to many restrictions for me, my HP iPaq phone has better build quality



Professional
Fusion Fuzo

[Troels C @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:28AM]

@Oli D
Xerox created the first ever window based graphical interface for the Xerox Alto desktop computer in 1973. It was very similar to the first Windows and Apple interfaces:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Star#The_Xerox_Alto

[Oli D @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:30AM]

Where did we mention Iphone?
I'll grant you that XP is a decent platform
I find windows mobile horrible to use personally, it drove me mad within 2 days.

Now on to sytnax.
"NEVER I would NEVER"
Reminiscent of the cockney phrase "I ain't done nothing" I'm afraid this means the opposite of what you intended.

What you have effectively said is, i would never, not choose apple products over Windows.
Double negative - i would choose apple products over windows.

I don't mean to be a bitch, but this is more entertaining than doing my essay on attitudes towards women in Othello...


Professional
Oli Dipple

[Oli D @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:33AM]

@Troels, lighten up! It was a joke.
I was trying to ruffle some feathers.
Your really on my case this morning though arn't you?

I feel like Clare Bennet being pursued by Sylar in series 1!
(inappropriate heroes reference)

[Troels C @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:42AM]

@Oli D
No, I just hate random MS bashing. Makes no difference who writes it.
And I took it as your final point.

[Fusion Fuzo 05 - Mr Professional @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:44AM]

Oli D, Esat Dedezade accused me of being an Iphone fanboy, My phone runs windows mobile

[Saad Rabia @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:50AM]

Hahaha, you people are heavenly funny; almost made my day. :)

[Oli D @ Dec 3rd 2008 8:10AM]

what else can we do on a Wednesday morning? Get a job!?

Oh...

Whats the number for Jobcentreplus?

Ah dammit, the lines are all blocked up by bankers...

[Troels C @ Dec 3rd 2008 8:20AM]

@Oli D
Let's find a solution to the crisis...

[Samunosuke Ode @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:52AM]

Just a quick question. Can ubuntu be upgraded from the disc?
Back on topic. It would be great having a choice of linux or s60 on nokia phones. They have a diverse range,excellent hardware, good pricing with respective build qualities. If they do this, they'll totally pwn every other phone. Its a good move.

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Dec 3rd 2008 5:30AM]

> It would be great having a choice of linux or s60 on nokia phones.

Does it really matter what OS it runs? As long as you can have all apps you need, the OS shouldn't be important to end user. In the case Linux is really internal thing of celco vendors.

I'm kind of against even calling the Linux on mobiles "Linux," since it is so heavily customized that there is really little of common between normal embedded system and mobile phones. Oh! - busybox could be the same! As was mentioned many times, OS on mobile phone is about 20% of whole firmware. Rest are custom applications: different networks support, special handling of operator network setups, etc.

P.S. "Just a quick question. Can ubuntu be upgraded from the disc?" Not sure, but since it is Debian and Debian can be upgraded completely from CD/DVD media, then Ubuntu should be too. Check that from official documentation: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/ch-basico.en.html#s-cdrom In older times it worked for sure and Debian releases are specifically tested to be upgradable without network. At least once before I heard that Ubuntu is tested in the same way.